Emory Adams Allen

Born in 1853 and dying in 1933, Emory Adams Allen wrote a wide range of nonfiction works, including history, archaeology, travel, and public-affairs titles. Surviving catalog and library records connect him with books such as The Prehistoric World; or, Vanished Races, the multi-volume History of Civilization, Scenes Abroad, and Labor and Capital.

His best-known work today is The Prehistoric World; or, Vanished Races, first published in Nashville in 1885. The book set out to explain prehistoric peoples and ancient societies for a broad audience, reflecting the strong Victorian appetite for grand, accessible histories of humanity.

Allen's writing belongs to a period when authors often tried to gather huge subjects into single readable volumes for home libraries and self-education. While some of his interpretations reflect the limits of scholarship in his time, his books remain useful as snapshots of how popular history and archaeology were presented to readers in the late nineteenth century.